I'd like to know the difference between the recording formats in KDENLIVE - Firewire Tab:
a) DV RAW
b) DV AVI Type 1
c) DV AVI Type 2
d) HDV

Could you please give me a hint? - What is the best capturing format?

The first three are quality wise the same (exactly the same DV 25Mb/s standard definition codec), just packed differently into the file.
Type 2 seems to be the most widely supported by other applications.

HDV is a high-definition format used on tape-based HD camcorders.


DVCAM (not on your list, but mentioned in the title) is a "pro" version of the DV codec, still standard definition, but with 50Mb/s for better quality.


DV and DVCAM are independent-frames formats like MJPEG, on the other hand, HDV is a MPEG-2 variant.

My camara is about 10 years old and therefore HDV is not relevant for me. With KDENLIVE, I've just captured my videos from cam to PC with DV RAW format. It seems that DV AVI Type 1 and 2 does not work (camera went into standby).

Previous to kdenlive, I've used Windows and Ulead Video Studio. As far as I remember, that video-software used AVI Type 1 or 2 while capturing.

Where can I find more details about the different formats between DV RAW, DV AVI Type 1 and DV AVI Type 2 ?

http://www.kinodv.org/article/view/25/1/14/

http://www.kinodv.org/dcforum/dcforum?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=8&mesg_id=8&page=

Look under -f here:

http://linux.die.net/man/1/dvgrab